The present invention relates to a chair which will hereinafter be referred to, for convenience, as a "water chair".
The so-called "water bed" which is characterized by use of a water impermeable bag or mattress filled with water is known. Such a bed has unique comfort characteristics attributed to the fluid nature of water. Also, the water can be heated, if desired, and retains the heat for a significant period of time.
It has been proposed that a chair could be made utilising a water filled seat and back support on a similar principle. However, whilst in the case of a water bed the problem of making a water filled mattress has been successfully overcome in making a water chair special problems arise.
The main difficulty resides in making a water filled back support which will retain the required shape. Whereas a water filled mattress for a bed is disposed horizontally in use and therefore largely self-supporting, a back support cushion for a chair is not so disposed and previous attempts to make a water filled back support for a chair have failed owing to the tendency for water to settle to the bottom part of the cushion resulting in a sagging effect or in the impossibility of maintaining the cushion in its desired shape.
It will be evident, for example, that a loosely mounted, water filled cushion would be impracticable for a back support for a chair since it is not possible to provide at the same time the fluid characteristics of the water and the degree of rigidity necessary to make the cushion self-supporting. Attempts to overcome this problem by fastening a water filled bag to the back supporting portion of a chair frame have failed because of the tendency of the water to settle at the bottom, which gives rise to unsatisfactory bag shape and therefore inadequate back support.
The present invention is directed towards overcoming the problems of the prior art.